The Spaniard fought through – coming back from a break down in the second set – to reach his 11th Barcelona semi-final. The No. 1 player in the ATP Rankings extended his clay-court sets win streak to 42 and his clay-court match-wins streak to 17 against Martin Klizan of Slovakia.
Nadal saved three set points in the second set and ousted the left-hander 6-0, 7-5. Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas recorded the biggest win of his career on Friday to reach the semi-finals.
The 19-year-old capitalised on lapses in concentration from World No. 7 Dominic Thiem, who consistently played deep behind the baseline, to win 6-3, 6-2 in 80 minutes.
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